U.S. Finds Porn Not Secrets on Suspected China Spy’s PC

NASA photographer Sean Smith hitched a ride with the U.S. Coast Guard to get this aerial view of NASA Langley Research Center on December 7, 2011. Photographer: NASA/Sean Smith

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- A Chinese research scientist suspected
of spying on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration -
-- and pulled from a plane in March as he was about to depart
for China -- is set to plead to a misdemeanor charge of
violating agency computer rules.

Bo Jiang, who was indicted March 20 for allegedly making
false statements to the U.S., was charged yesterday in a
separate criminal information in federal court in Newport News,
Virginia. Jiang unlawfully downloaded copyrighted movies and
sexually explicit films onto his NASA laptop, according to the
court filing. A plea hearing is set for tomorrow.

Along with the misdemeanor, the government said it had
resolved the false statements case, Assistant U.S. Attorney
Gordon Kromberg said in a filing today.

At the time of his arrest in March, Jiang was under federal
investigation at NASA’s request for a possible conspiracy
involving violations of the Arms Export Control Act, according
to an FBI affidavit. Prosecutors said in court papers on April 2
that they were trying to determine whether Jiang had taken, or
was seeking to take, “secret, confidential or classified
information” to China.

Lost Job

Jiang, barred from NASA facilities late last year and fired
from his job in January at the National Institute of Aerospace,
was stopped on March 16 as he tried leave Dulles International
Airport outside Washington for Beijing. Federal authorities
alleged he lied to them by failing to disclose the computer
equipment in his possession.

Jiang, 31, was one of about 281 nationals from countries
designated as security threats employed at NASA facilities,
according to congressional testimony in March by NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden. He was blocked from resuming his
work at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia,
after coming back from a monthlong trip to China in December,
according to court filings.

He took a NASA computer, as well as an NIA external hard
drive from his employer, with him on that trip, violating the
agency’s security regulations, according the criminal
information. Jiang’s employment at the non-profit aerospace and
atmospheric research and graduate education institute was
terminated on Jan. 11.

Whistle-Blower Concerns

Representative Frank Wolf, a Virginia Republican, told
reporters in Washington on March 7, more than a week before
Jiang’s arrest, that whistle-blowers at NASA were concerned
about possible security breaches at its research facilities.

The agency “should immediately review all foreign
nationals with current NASA credentials” and eject anyone with
ties to organizations or foreign governments designated as
counterintelligence threats, Wolf said on March 7.

A week later, Wolf named Jiang as one of the individuals
identified by the whistle-blowers during an exchange with Paul
Martin, NASA’s inspector general, at a hearing of the House
Appropriations subcommittee led by the lawmaker. The same day,
the FBI opened an investigation into Jiang for potential
violations of the Arms Control Export Act, according to the
bureau affidavit.

Jiang’s lawyer, Fernando Groene, declined to comment on the
new charge and plea hearing. Zachary Terwilliger, a spokesman
for U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride in Virginia, didn’t immediately
respond to a phone and e-mail messages seeking comment on the
plea agreement.

Jill Shatzen, a spokeswoman for Wolf, said he didn’t have a
comment on the plea agreement.

Foreign Nationals

Bolden told Wolf’s subcommittee in March that 192 foreign
nationals from China had physical access the agency’s
facilities. That amounts to more than two-thirds of the total
number of employees from countries designated as potential
security risks, such as North Korea and Iran, who have access to
NASA offices.

Bolden said he had taken steps regarding individuals from
designated countries, including a moratorium on granting them
any new access and termination of remote computer access to NASA
facilities for employees from those countries.

Jiang, while working at Langley’s Visual Information
Processing lab through a NASA-funded agreement between NIA and
the agency, dealt with “generic work resulting from fundamental
research with no classified sensitive or restricted
information,” court papers filed by Jiang’s lawyer.

NASA Research

Jiang, who has been in the country since 2007, obtained his
doctorate from Virginia’s Old Dominion University in 2010 and
worked as a researcher on the multi-scale retinex, an image
enhancing project developed by NASA, according to court
documents. He was going home because he had no job prospects and
his student visa had expired, according to the documents.

Prosecutors alleged that Jiang moved his departure date
forward -- from April 5 to March 16 -- after his name was
released during the March 13 hearing with Martin, the NASA
inspector general.

Jiang said in court papers that he is innocent and was
targeted by Wolf for political purposes.

A judge overturned a magistrate’s decision on releasing
Jiang on $10,000 bail after the government objected and labeled
the defendant a “serious risk of flight.” Prosecutors told the
court on April 2 that they hadn’t fully reviewed the electronics
found on Jiang at the airport, which included a second computer,
two external hard drives, a sim card and an iPod found in
Jiang’s luggage.

Jiang faced as many as five years in prison and a $250,000
fine if convicted for lying to federal agents.

The case is U.S. v. Jiang, 13-mj-00076, U.S. District
Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Newport News).